Storytelling: Abandoning Our Mentally Ill

Three decades ago, after losing a lawsuit at the US Supreme Court, Milwaukee County led the nation in ushering patients with severe mental illness out of institutions and into the community. While the court case was about civil liberties, public institutions soon discovered an unintended consequence: They could save money by giving psychotic and heavily medicated patients a monthly allowance and leaving them to fend for themselves on the streets.

However, no one made sure there were clean, safe, affordable places for these vulnerable people to live.